On-page Optimisation for Keywords That Are Not Natural Language
-
I would like to know your thoughts on optimising a page for a keyword phrase that is not how you would normally write it.
When someone searches they tend to use the (no pun intended) key words relating to their query rather than natural language. Using these keywords leads to copy that doesn't read well but not doing so gets you a poor mark on On-page graders like Moz.
My clients target an international market but are region specific so, for example, I might want to optimise for 'safari lodge zambia' or variations of that.
Alternatively it might be optimising for a specific tour so the keyword might include a region highlight and the 'safari' or 'tour' qualifier which again can sometimes be problematic. In the title, I would normally use the name of the tour | company name but that may not match an exact likely keyword search and in the main copy/description it would be unnatural to incorporate the keyword phrase.
-
Yep, those are all good points!
Intergise - sounds like you are on the right track, so best of luck and keep us posted.
-
I agree that you should prioritize for the user. But would also add that things that don't look natural in a sentence will look normal in other places.... For example, "safari lodge zambia" would be perfectly natural as a caption under an image, or as the text of a menu item.
Google also will ignore allot of 'special' characters. and will normally register safari loge, zambia as an exact match with or without the comma.
-
Thanks Xerox.
I agree that good copy is paramount and that is what I do, making sure it reads well and builds trust and interest.
I'm going through my clients' (and my own) website in a schedule of continuous improvement. I realise there's no big wins, just a lot of little steps and am trying to tweak them to get the best possible result.
-
For me I would prioritise the quality of the copy. Its the copy that will build trust, create a great user experience and persuade users, and so actually SELL the product.
The on-page grader with MOZ is great but don't be obsessed by it. Measure what you do in terms of sales, not whether you get a B or an A+ on the grader.
Finally, you can see how intelligent Google is getting at understanding and processing synonyms and meaning in different contexts. As good as the MOZ grader is, I don't believe it can operate at that same level. The good news about Google's intelligence is that it can free you from slavishly forcing keywords into your copy.
Hope that helps!
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Grade F page on Moz positions No 1 on Google Keywords not contained
Hi I am trying to understand why a page list in position 1 on Google despite the fact it does not include the search terms anywhere in the page source. One of our sites has been in that position for years has great content and links for the key word terms so how can the other page overtake it and all of the other keywords without so much as a sniff of the keyword in the URL, Meta, content or images. It grades F on Moz! How can I discover the technique that has been used. This really is black art stuff or do Google accept payment from major corporations to list their pages irrespective of content?
On-Page Optimization | | Eff-Commerce0 -
Positioning rethinking regarding triplicate keyword "landing pages"
Hi! We're rethinking our website and we have some doubts on how it would affect our positioning. Our main keyword right now is "casas de madera". Positioning by this keyword we have three different "main" pages: Our home (http://www.canexel.es/) 2)SEO landing page (http://www.canexel.es/casas-de-madera/) 3)A blog section (http://www.canexel.es/blog/casas-de-madera/) We thought at first about changing our home main keyword, but this option has been ruled out since is the keyword that gives us the most visits and changing it would result on a rebrandindg strategy we are not sure we want to pursue. We're thinking about a canonical from the landing page (2) to our Home (1) and making it disappear from our website. Regarding our blog we've thought about removing the blog section. We've thought about a 301 from every post to a new category or just deleting the category "casas de madera" from our site and telling google not to index the section (3) but continue indexing the posts we already have published under this category. Would any of these harm our positioning? And, if so, is ther any other steps you wolud recomend us taking? In this same topic, we're about to create a SEM Landing page for this same keyword. This page will be very visual and with little text. We are not sure if we should have a canonical pointing from it to our home or just not indexing the new SEM landing page. What would you recommend? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | Canexel0 -
How to rank well on 2 keywords - 2 separate pages or 1 combined page
Hi, I have a website about allergy. We ar developing new content, and through keyword research I have discovered that "dog allergy" and "cat allergy" are both very common searches. However, the cause, and symtoms are very alike for these 2 types of allergy so it would make sense to combine the two allergies on one page. So my question is: What do I choose to increase my chances to ranke the best I can for both "cat allergy", and "dog allergy"? Should I develop 2 separate pages for cat & dog allergy or should I do a combined page? (We would of course review the texts so no duplicate content/text would be used if we chose to have 2 pages) I would be so greatful for your advice!! Kind regards, Jeanette
On-Page Optimization | | Mylan-GDM0 -
Deleted pages still registering as 404 pages.
I have a an all html site that I can only work on through the ftp. The previous marketing company ran a script that built thousands of location landing pages, but all they did was change the tags and headers and the keywords in the pages, other than that they are all duplicate pages. I removed them, but Google is reading them as 404 pages. How do I tell Google those pages don't exist? or do I just need to let the bots crawl it a few times and it will see that eventually?
On-Page Optimization | | SwanJob0 -
Keyword canibalization
Hi all, as part of the optimization process i've used the same keyword in two different pages of my site (the "home" page and another page") 'cause I had only four criteria (keywords) selected for my business model and six pages so I had to redistributed it in diferent pages. This keyowrd especifically is suited for two pages of the website. The thing is that it could result in keyword canibalization as two pages are competing for the same keyword and may Google penalize the site. ¿How could I solve the problem? I can use only these four criteria according the the business model of the company. In case the pages are indexed and something has been changed how must i proceed? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
Local search optimisation
One of the major keywords in our industry “fireplaces” is now viewed as a local search phrase & Google seems to be displaying website results that it views to be local businesses. We have 2 stores, and for some reason they do not appear high on the rankings despite us having a physical location near by... can anyone help? Also, we have a verified location on Google place, but even that doesn’t appear.
On-Page Optimization | | Ray_UK0 -
Google is indexing spam pages from my site. What is the most effective way to get ride of the search results? Pages are deleted now but should I do something more?
A long time ago I created a forum (Invision Power Board) and it got full of spam. Massive amounts! /forum/ I've now deleted the forum but the spam pages are still indexed on Google. Can I do something else to hurry up the process to get ride of them?
On-Page Optimization | | ocarlsson0 -
Woah, my A-grade optimized pages that were on the first page have all vanished outside the top 50 in Google... is this Panda?
Yep as mentioned, I had some pages hit the top ten pretty quickly after ensuring they were A-grade for pretty uncompetitive keywords however, today, all bar 2 have just vanished from the top 50! All were ranking in Google.co.uk and I know we were predicting the Panda update to hit soon but WOW! My client is understandably a little upset, what on earch do I tell him and what should I do about it? Cheers! jT
On-Page Optimization | | Switch_Digital0